I was hired last September, but did not work on 76.

quote:

Originally posted by PennySillin:
i hated how none of the cool vehciles actually do anything. like the fire truck dosnt shoot water. and the tank cant destory buildigs?

Yeah, I agree with you too. In fact, Reflections LIED to us back in 2005 with D:PL. In 2005, they said in previews that certain vehicles will have certain functions and features. Here's a list of features that were said to be in there (I'm NOT making this up):

*Cops will chase other people
*Fire trucks and firefighters will put out fires
*Ambulances and doctors will come to accidents to save people's lives and give you restored health
*Garbage trucks and garbage men will run their routes and pick up garbage from garbage cans
*Tow trucks will come to accidents to tow wrecked vehicles.

I hope those cool features happen in the next Driver game.

J_Frumpleberg, I hope you and the rest of Reflections can get our wishes down! We have faith in you.

quote:

Originally posted by lb003g0676:
I am sick of terrible animations

and Finally I am sick of there being no Film Director mode.

Ubisoft take heed, and stop making GTA clones, let driver get abck to it's roots.

Didn't Driver come out before GTA and start this genre? I could be wrong though.
I thought the story was kinda neat and the animations seemed to me top notch.

Lack of Interaction
*You can't use the trunk of a car, or the cargo areas of semi's, delivery trucks
*Can't ride as passenger in a taxi, bus, or train
*Can't even drive a train, can't be that hard to implement, theres no steering involved!
*Can't enter buildings, manipulate objects, barely able to fight people

Film Director
*Don't use it much but its nice to have, needs some more features too

*Very limited abilities, can't jump, climb, crawl, roll, swim, dive, fly (cheat code please?)

quote:

Originally posted by J_Frumpleberg:
I'm James Frumpleberg, new addition to the Reflections staff since the last game.

Great to see a post from Reflections, thanks James. I'll try to remember to look for your name in the credits of the new Driver!

Glad to hear our comments aren't going unnoticed from all these months, can't wait to see the new Driver hopefully in 2008. Best success with the game, it's a lot of work and time. Feel free to let us know how you've been contributing to the new Driver.

---

On topic: Things I don't like about Driver?

-DRiv3r's SLOW top speed of 88 mph was brought to 140 thanks to DPL, problem solved.

-The cops in Driv3r along the sides of the road shooting your car were a pain and defeated the fun of a good car chase. DPL didn't have them, so that's good.

-Needs an interior dash view. Please include more camera views to cycle through, more cinematic too. How about a helicopter camera view ala World's Scariest Police Chases? That would be great, few games try that.

-Popping tires are "anti-car chase". Driver 1 didn't have it, and the chase lasted that much longer thanks to the strong tires.

-Bigger maps. DPL was pretty giant, but something as big as TDU with tons of backroads, dirt, hills, forests, cities, towns, mountains, deserts and more would be awesome for Driver.

-On foot without much purpose got boring in DPL. Hopefully, if it's included, there'll be more vehicle interaction, stunts and tasks.

-DPL had very few interiors, bring back the malls from Driv3r to crash and walk through. All interiors should allow on foot I'd hope.

-Day/night cycle from DPL was a bit fast. Offer a way to slow it down for more daylight/nightime.

-Bring back the Options/Cheat checklist from DPL/Driv3r. For options, include Traffic count, police on/off, weather on/off, day/night on/off, pedestrians on/off, and more. Those few options make a big difference in replay value. Also consider including controller layout mapping of all buttons.

-Offer an online mode for bigger sales.

-Allow more vehicle customization on par or better than DPL.

-Continue including motorcycles as Driv3r and DPL did. They're my favorite transportation, skim through traffic, fast acceleration, easy to get away on.

-DPL and Driv3r cops weren't as tough to lose as the ones from Driver 1 and 2. Offer smarter cops, but with an option for easy/medium/toughest.

-Less guns, more vehicle chases. More clever missions that aren't so much "pressing you to be at a certain spot on time", but rather make the whole experience fun by pressing your skills at driving more. Less timed missions in other words. Adding a timer doesn't make it more fun.

-At the very least, bring back the Film Director from Driver 1, which was the best. Driv3r's instant replays weren't varied, needed more camera views.

-DPL's train system would be cool if they impacted chases more. More trains, more action when passing over tracks. Include a passenger train for touring.

-I hope Reflections considers many of the ideas in the forums from loyal Driver fans, thanks!

More ideas later.

quote:

Originally posted by J_Frumpleberg:
I was hired last September, but did not work on 76.

Glad to be speaking to you.
But one thing possess my mind, your name doesn't appear anywhere in the UK Phonebook. It is possible you could be working remotely, but that seems unlikely.

Anyways, good luck if you are an employee and I hope reflections interactive are also checking out the driver madness forums at http://www.drivermadness.net/main/index.php

there is some good stuff out there now.
All of a sudden the forums have become so much more popular so I decided to open up an entire section dedicated to wishes = http://www.drivermadness.net/main/viewforum.php?f=58

But wishes seem to appear throughout the forums so it's worth a look.

Also wondering your position's at Reflections Interactive.

and because I'm on a slight constant wonder finding out who you really are I've decided to check the time you posted your thread and match what time that would be in Newcastle and that suggests your posts are posted around 5pm to 11pm Newcastle Time so this suggests you are a resident of Newcastle.

So your most likely an employee, I thought reflections wouldn't let their team start going around on all the forums and reveal their identity. But I guess there is really no problem with that.

Maybe you should open up a new thread so users of the community can ask sensible questions.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: driver_madness,

quote:

Originally posted by J_Frumpleberg:
I'm James Frumpleberg, new addition to the Reflections staff since the last game.

Hey thanks for feedback from reflections you no doub will get more traffic on the forums for this, meaning more ideas. Check out some of my ideas i have wrote about in past few months, heres a short list of essentials.

Spend less time and money on cutscenes, notice all the next gen games cutscenes arnt as good as DPL's? I want all the graphics money to go into gameplay.

A completely interactive enviroment. ie get to rid taxis, get to start riots, get to use the buildings, bring back the safehouses from D3. only give us something to do in them. And if we have a safehouse a garage might be usful. (underground car parks now that would be nice)

Enviroment again must be relistic not only in graphics but in weather and police/pedestrian/thug/etc 's reactions. Usualy they over react, but it would be good other than to just shot them down u could interact with them. If u are going to do this. Do it right not some crappy job by bob downstairs who is used to working on dreamcast mario games.

Music helps the enviroment too. Customizable would be good, but for the cutscenes I would suggest the more un-commercial songs.

Mad World - Gary Jules
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - Almost cut my hair (would be good for trailer)
Road to hell - Chris Rea (good for credits [credits should start off with a car driving down a bendy country road at night and u see nothing but the headlights infront of you.])
Highway Star - Deep Purple
Pretender - Foo Fighters
Fear of the dark - iron maiden
hunted by a freak - mogwai
Echoes - Pink Floyd
Blowout - Radiohead
Black Betty - Ram Jam
satisfaction - rolling stones
Shes Not There - Santana
Heaven Can Wait - Meat Loaf
Bat out of Hell - Meat Loaf.

Just my contribution

I kind of want the first trailer of the next Driver game to look a little bit like my video. Watch and see what I mean...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLr1eam-iiU

And it should be easy to license "In the Mood" by The Glenn Miller Orchestra. Glenn Miller is dead, so his music shouldn't be so hard to impliment into the game's soundtrack. Like I said before, the next Driver games need good and real music in the soundtrack. Enjoy my In the "Driving" Mood video, Reflections (as well as everybody else)!

That song doesn't really make me want to drive, it makes me feel like dressing like the Planters Nut and dancing on a set of stairs with a cane.

I have to disagree on the police/gang response to your actions, more subdued is not what this game needs, its so boring already, if anything they should respond like in Blues Brothers, where the guy on the police radio says "Use of unnecessary force is allowed in the apprehention of the Blues Brothers"

I suppose it is annoying to have the cops trying to kill you for minute things, especially when you're exploring the game, then the cops become an annoyance, but I still like their overly aggressive approach to their job from the original game, just change the circumstances a little

quote:

Originally posted by PennySillin:
That song doesn't really make me want to drive, it makes me feel like dressing like the Planters Nut and dancing on a set off stairs with a cane.

Really? I saw some action-packed car commercial or movie (in the 90s) that had that song play in the background. I think it's a great song for the Driver series!

Glenn Miller, a swing composer is hardly fitting for Driver. I wnat them to focus on music, but i think an awesome soundtrack can be achieved, without giving custom music options.

They need to focus on the funk and, rock alternative. I'm thinking organs, clavichords and guitars.

@JacksonL2007 Black Betty for example is good, but those are all way too mainstream.


I think, some Beck is in order.

Anyway, @ J_frumpleberg, nice to see a dev, if you aren't pulling our leg. No offence but you can't ever be sure. I woudl love to work there, as a concept artist, put in a good word for me :P.

But serisouly dude, make sure you guys are goign back to the roots of driver, and stop trying to follow what GTA basically plagiarised from you. The focus now needs to be on driving, and think about EVERYTHING, that can be done with a car. Tanner after all, is good at shooting, but his skills are in cars. Focus on cars!!!

I'm not arguing with anybody. But when it comes to music, I think they need to focus on all genres. Classic Rock, Modern Rock, Soul, Classic Hip Hop, Modern Hip Hop, Swing, Disco, Ragae, Funk, and many others. A diverse soundtrack is a must.

I actually know it sounds ignorant, ebcuase, believe me, I ahve Glenn Miller on my iPod, believe it or not. Alogn with a load of stuff like that. Infact I ahve progresive inmprovised Jazz.

But I think a diverse subject is once again GTA's place, down to the radiostation. Driver has always been more cinematic with a personality when it comes to music. Bottom line is, you can stick anythig you want in, without loosing identity and detracting from the story. Like many people (obviosuly not you driverman, becuase to like Glenn Miller gives me a lot of repsect for your music taste) without taste, would want Driver to be filled with thrash metal.

But otherwise I totally agree about having an electic soundtrack.

P.S thats why i don't like Driver:PL, cus it completely lost it's indentity, becoming more like GTA, becuase Reflections knew it was a selling formula. Sure sure, it's about the gameplay,a dn that is good, but it's also about story and style. Music was good in PL though.

I usually just turn all the music off. For a more realistic, less distracting chase.

quote:

Originally posted by lb003g0676:
I actually know it sounds ignorant, ebcuase, believe me, I ahve Glenn Miller on my iPod, believe it or not. Alogn with a load of stuff like that. Infact I ahve progresive inmprovised Jazz.

But I think a diverse subject is once again GTA's place, down to the radiostation. Driver has always been more cinematic with a personality when it comes to music. Bottom line is, you can stick anythig you want in, without loosing identity and detracting from the story. Like many people (obviosuly not you driverman, becuase to like Glenn Miller gives me a lot of repsect for your music taste) without taste, would want Driver to be filled with thrash metal.

But otherwise I totally agree about having an electic soundtrack.

I do like the customizable soundtrack idea (the XBOX 360 has that for any game). But the thing is, diversity is better. Driver CANNOT be a weak-ass 90s style game anymore (like Driver 1), we have new standards nowadays for the series. This is 2007, not 1999. And I do have a broad interest of music. I love all kinds of music from the 1940s to today. Now, I don't really support the radio station idea, but I do want the music system from D:PL again. The music system where you can select whatever song you want at the push of a button. I DON'T want that piece of $#!+ music system from Drivers 1-3 where it's crappy music that changes to the mood.

Driver 1's music was by far the best, you just don't like it because there's no singing, or because you won't hear it on MTV.

That Glenn Miller song would just sound goofy in Driver. Nothings wrong with the song, its alright, not my cup of tea.

Take Pink Floyd for example, I love them, but their music doesn't sound right in the game, its kinda on the slow side. Zeppelin is much the same, though the Immigrant Song would fit perfect for a high speed chase. (hint hint)

quote:

Originally posted by PennySillin:
Driver 1's music was by far the best, you just don't like it because there's no singing, or because you won't hear it on MTV.

That Glenn Miller song would just sound goofy in Driver. Nothings wrong with the song, its alright, not my cup of tea.

Take Pink Floyd for example, I love them, but their music doesn't sound right in the game, its kinda on the slow side. Zeppelin is much the same, though the Immigrant Song would fit perfect for a high speed chase. (hint hint)

I dont agree with the pink floyd comment look at the early stuff like echoes listen to that next time ur late night driving. i want the next driver to feel like that.

It was said above that commercial songs are not good for driver but i disagree i said in my other post the un-commercial songs would be good and they would but commercial songs work just aswell. Its the mood that adds realism not graphics, but i want good graphics too lol :P

Bands like iron maiden would be good. I dont like it in DPL that when u get out of your car the song stops as if its radio. Its so annoying i would have it just play continulessly, and to be in no particular order. Thats why u could have a song like mad world playing when ur just walking about town but when ur in a car chase u could listen to highway star. get my meaning

I'm sorry, but Driver did ahve awesome music. It was obviosuly not great in free drive becuase it was looped, but speciically with a DVD9 or if PS3 exclusive Bluray, they can make the sogns longer and better. But they need to make in-house developed music, that is set to fit with the action.

And the storyline shoudl be jam packed with songs that follow an identity. I guess I am not saying, there shouldn't be an ecletic soundtrack, I am just saying, the more it gives the game an identity, the more the story si brought out. And old 70's Police Chase soaps have the perfect funk music. Also note the movie Bullit.

On that note, it shoudlbe like this, so as to stay away from GTA, and to create ultimate cinematic experience, just liek movies. If you were to watch a movie with your music, it would suck.

I have and currently am studying Media,a nd I promise, any other way wouldn't be as good. Main point is it gives the game identity, which it needs to be involving and interesting.

The music is great in all previous driver.
I understand what your saying about getting out of the vehicle and the music stops.

I could drive a vehicle without music and play for a long time. But when you have to go and find another vehicle it's just plain boring and music just spices things up again. (Spice Girls )

In driv3r it was good because the music continued on playing, but it was the same track all the time which gets a bit boring after a while.

I think custom play lists should be a big thing, the creators should worry about licensing to much for the game. People just get board of it after a while. Particularly when it's the only game you play for an entire year.

quote:

Originally posted by lb003g0676:
I'm sorry, but Driver did ahve awesome music. It was obviosuly not great in free drive becuase it was looped, but speciically with a DVD9 or if PS3 exclusive Bluray, they can make the sogns longer and better. But they need to make in-house developed music, that is set to fit with the action.

And the storyline shoudl be jam packed with songs that follow an identity. I guess I am not saying, there shouldn't be an ecletic soundtrack, I am just saying, the more it gives the game an identity, the more the story si brought out. And old 70's Police Chase soaps have the perfect funk music. Also note the movie Bullit.

On that note, it shoudlbe like this, so as to stay away from GTA, and to create ultimate cinematic experience, just liek movies. If you were to watch a movie with your music, it would suck.

I have and currently am studying Media,a nd I promise, any other way wouldn't be as good. Main point is it gives the game identity, which it needs to be involving and interesting.

As a part of learning video editing I have always liked they way driver usually goes with the music, particularly the trailers, at a certain beat you get a car crash and at a different form of beat you get car chases.

Driver: Parallel Lines did fairly well with the music and the scene. Driver 3 did to and Driver 2 did good as well.

My next fake driver trailer will focus on getting the elements you and I have mentioned just right.